Boca Approves Road Work

DIGEST

BOCA RATON - — A plan to give the downtown stretch of Palmetto Park Road a $4.4 million facelift was given the go-ahead on Monday by city officials.

Construction on the Palmetto Park Road project, from Crawford Boulevard east to Fifth Avenue, will begin next summer.

The proposal calls for a four-lane road with trees and other flourishes wherever on-street parking is prohibited. The streetscape will be akin to Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, where trees are planted in "knuckles" built out from curbs.

Florida Power & Light has to bury its powerline, which is now above-ground, to allow for trees or bushes that otherwise could not grow taller than 8 feet.

City officials have struggled over plans for Palmetto Park Road for years, trying to meet the often-competing needs of pedestrians, drivers and merchants within a relatively small 70-foot right-of-way. The final plan calls for squeezing extra space for parking and wider sidewalks by narrowing the width of each traffic lane by 6 inches.